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UP FRONTThursday 10 December 2015

New draft of global climate accord leaves
many major issues unresolved

KARL RITTER Environment Minister Thoriq settle the sensitive question German Chancellor Angela Merkel is featured as Time’s Person
ANGELA CHARLTON Ibrahim, chairman of an of whether advanced de- of the Year. The magazine praises her leadership on everything
Associated Press alliance of island nations. veloping countries such as from Syrian refugees to the Greek debt crisis.
LE BOURGET, France (AP) “It’s now up to us ministers China and oil-rich Arab na-
— With just two days left to to show the leadership tions should join industrial- (Time Magazine via AP)
reach a deal, negotiators needed to make hard de- ized countries in providing
at the world climate talks cisions that put the interests financial aid. German leader Angela Merkel
released a new draft of people and the planet It also doesn’t spell out named Time Person of the Year
Wednesday that drops ahead of shortsighted poli- the long-term goal of the
the most radical ideas — tics.” Ministers from more accord — whether it is to HILLEL ITALIE al leadership in a world
including an international than 190 countries are remove carbon emissions AP National Writer where it is in short supply,
tribunal to punish polluters trying to craft the first cli- from the economy alto- NEW YORK (AP) — German Angela Merkel is TIME’s
— but leaves major issues mate accord asking all na- gether or just reduce them. Chancellor Angela Merkel Person of the Year.”
unresolved, such as who tions to reduce or slow their Nor does it settle whether has been named Time’s Merkel, 61, is just the fourth
should pay to help the emissions. The previous governments will aim to Person of the Year, praised woman since 1927 to be
most vulnerable nations agreement, the 1997 Kyoto limit the global tempera- Wednesday by the maga- chosen and the first since
cope with global warming. Protocol, required only rich ture rise to 1.5 degrees C zine for her leadership on opposition leader Cora-
U.S. Secretary of State countries to do so. (2.7 degrees F) above pre- everything from Syrian ref- zon C. Aquino of the Philip-
John Kerry challenged Most man-made emissions industrial times or closer to ugees to the Greek debt pines in 1986. She is the first
diplomats to reach agree- come from the burning of 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees crisis. German since Willy Brandt,
ment by Friday’s deadline, oil, coal and gas — fossil F). “It is not bold enough,” Time also cited Merkel’s the West German chan-
promising American fund- fuels that meet about 80 European Climate Com- strong response to “Vladi- cellor named in 1970 for
ing for low-lying island na- percent of global energy missioner Miguel Arias mir Putin’s creeping theft “seeking to bring about a
tions and other countries demand. Replacing them Canete said of the draft. of Ukraine” and on its cov- fresh relationship between
hit hardest by the rising with renewable sources In an attempt to bridge er called her “Chancellor East and West” during the
seas and extreme weather like wind and solar power the rich-poor divide that of the Free World.” Cold War. In 1999, Time
that scientists attribute to requires big investments, has often stalled progress “Not once or twice but picked the German-born
man-made emissions of which poor countries say in the U.N. talks, the foreign three times there has been Albert Einstein as Person of
carbon dioxide and other they can’t afford without minister of the Marshall Is- reason to wonder this year the Century.
greenhouse gases. help. A previous draft sug- lands, Tony de Brum, an- whether Europe could Wednesday’s news came
“Our aim can be nothing gested that intellectual nounced a “high-ambition continue to exist, not cul- in as Merkel’s spokesman
less than a steady transfor- property rights to clean coalition” including small turally or geographically Steffen Seibert was lead-
mation of the global econ- technology be removed island nations, the Euro- but as a historic experi- ing a government press
omy,” Kerry said. so that developing coun- pean Union and the United ment in ambitious state- conference in the Ger-
The new draft released by tries such as India could States, among others. craft,” Time editor Nancy man capital, while Merkel
the U.N. climate agency is get access to it more eas- It was not immediately Gibbs wrote. “You can herself was at an event
29 pages, down from a 43- ily. That was deleted from clear whether the move agree with her or not, but in Leipzig. When asked
page version issued Satur- the latest draft. would yield a breakthrough she is not taking the easy about it by The Associated
day. There are about 100 A call for an International in the talks. At a plenary road. Leaders are tested Press, Seibert said he had
places where there are Tribunal of Climate Justice session in the evening, sev- only when people don’t only just received word on
decisions still to be made, to punish rich countries eral developing countries, want to follow. For asking his phone himself.
including multiple options that fail to live up to their including India and Ma- more of her country than “I’m sure the chancellor
left in brackets, or blank commitments was also laysia, accused wealthy most politicians would will regard this as an en-
spaces. dropped, as were refer- nations of not living up to dare, for standing firm couragement for her polit-
“We have never been this ences to emissions from their commitments to pro- against tyranny as well ical work, for a good future
close to a climate change aviation and shipping. vide climate aid for the as expedience and for for Germany as well as for
agreement,” said Maldives But the document doesn’t poor.q providing steadfast mor- Europe,” Seibert said.q

U.S Secretary of State John Kerry delivers his speech during a news conference at the COP21
Climate Conference in Le Bourget, north of Paris, France, Wednesday, Dec. 9 2015. Kerry
announced that the United States will double its commitment to helping vulnerable nations
adapt to climate change impacts such as increased extreme weather events.

(Stephane Mahe, Pool via AP)